There is described a method of optimizing a mail sorting process having a first and at least a second sorting cycle performed in succession on a sorting machine, which receives a group of mail items at an input and supplies, at its outputs, the mail items identified and separated according to given sorting rules; in a given sorting cycle, the mail items being fed to the outputs of the machine according to a predetermined respective sorting criterion, and then being fed in orderly manner back into the input of the machine for a following sorting cycle; each output of the sorting machine being assigned at least one respective delivery location according to an assignment criterion related to the delivery order of the mail items in the delivery locations. The optimization method includes the steps of: assigning to a first group of delivery locations a first sorting identifier indicating to which sorting cycles the mail items in the first group of delivery locations are to be subjected, and to a second group of delivery locations a second sorting identifier indicating to which sorting cycles the mail items in the second group of delivery locations are to be subjected, the first and second sorting identifiers being different from each other; and subjecting each of the mail items to the sorting cycles indicated by the respective sorting identifiers.